Judge rules ACV protects entire site from conversion

17-May-2016 - Last updated on 18-May-2016 at 08:45 GMT

A judge has ruled that asset of community status (ACV) covers the whole of a pub after developers claimed they should be allowed to convert an upstairs function room into flats.

The Sir Richard Steele pub at Haverstock Hill, north London, has been the subject of an ongoing dispute between developers Faucet Inn and campaigners.

An application was rejected by Camden Council in 2014, but the developers appealed to the planning inspectorate, who also threw out the proposals.

Campaigners went on to achieve ACV status for the pub, but Faucet Inn persevered with the plan, and argued that the status should only apply to the main pub and not the upstairs function room at a tribunal.

This was accompanied by an application to replace the function room with flats.

'Well-loved'

But at a tribunal this week a judge concluded that the ACV status protects the entirety of the “functioning and well-loved neighbourhood pub”.

The room had been used for community meetings and the Monkey Business Comedy Club until Faucet Inn ended community events.

The judge explained that the upstairs should be considered a part of the pub, having been used as recently as two years ago, according to the Hampstead & Highgate Express, which was at the tribunal.

Single premises

“Accordingly, the entirety of the building comprising the Sir Richard Steele, together with its garden, comprises a single set of premises,” he said.

“I find it realistic to think that there can continue to be relevant use, of the same kind and involving the same areas of the premises, as currently exists.”

The historic pub is famous for accommodating celebrity regulars such as Noel and Liam Gallagher of Oasis fame and TV and radio star Chris Evans.

Community group

The ACV status gives businesses and community groups six months to produce the funds to buy a site and keep it as a pub if an application is made to change the use of a building.

Figures earlier this year showed that almost 1,000 pubs were listed in a year, and the Campaign for Real Ale has hopes for 3,000 in total to be listed by the end of this year.

But some have questioned the scheme, describing blanket ACV listings as a publicity stunt.